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| To the Clergy and People, About the Ordination of Aurelius as a Reader.
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Epistle XXXII.2356
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Oxford ed.: Ep. xxxviii. a.d.
250. |
To the Clergy and People, About the
Ordination of Aurelius as a Reader.
Argument.—Cyprian Tells the Clergy and People that Aurelius the
Confessor Has Been Ordained a Reader by Him, and Commends, by the Way,
the Constancy of His Virtue and His Mind, Whereby He Was Even Deserving
of a Higher Degree in the Church.
1. Cyprian to the elders and deacons, and to the
whole people, greeting. In ordinations of the clergy, beloved brethren, we usually
consult you beforehand, and weigh the character and deserts of
individuals, with the general advice.2357
But human testimonies must not be
waited for when the divine approval precedes. Aurelius, our
brother, an illustrious youth, already approved by the Lord, and dear
to God, in years still very young, but, in the praise of virtue and of
faith, advanced; inferior in the natural abilities of his age, but
superior in the honour he has merited,—has contended here
in a double conflict, having twice confessed and twice been glorious in
the victory of his confession, both when he conquered in the course and
was banished, and when at length he fought in a severer conflict, he
was triumphant and victorious in the battle of suffering. As
often as the adversary wished to call forth the servants of God, so
often this prompt and brave soldier both fought and conquered. It
had been a slight matter, previously to have engaged under the eyes of
a few when he was banished; he deserved also in the forum to engage
with a more illustrious virtue so that, after overcoming the
magistrates, he might also triumph over the proconsul, and, after
exile, might vanquish tortures also. Nor can I discover what I
ought to speak most of in him,—the glory of his wounds or the
modesty of his character; that he is distinguished by the honour of his
virtue, or praiseworthy for the admirableness of his modesty. He
is both so excellent in dignity and so lowly in humility, that it seems
that he is divinely reserved as one who should be an example to the
rest for ecclesiastical discipline, of the way in which the servants of
God should in confession conquer by their courage, and, after
confession, be conspicuous for their character.
2. Such a one, to be estimated not by his
years but by his deserts, merited higher degrees of clerical ordination
and larger increase. But, in the meantime, I judged it well, that
he should begin with the office of reading; because nothing is more
suitable for the voice which has confessed the Lord in a glorious
utterance, than to sound Him forth in the solemn repetition of the
divine lessons; than, after the sublime words which spoke out the
witness of Christ, to read the Gospel of Christ whence martyrs are
made; to come to the desk after the scaffold; there to have been
conspicuous to the multitude of the Gentiles, here to be beheld by the
brethren; there to have been heard with the wonder of the surrounding
people, here to be heard with the joy of the brotherhood. Know,
then, most beloved brethren, that this man has been ordained by me and
by my colleagues who were then present. I know that you will both
gladly welcome these tidings, and that you desire that as many such as
possible may be ordained in our church. And since joy is always
hasty, and gladness can bear no delay, he reads on the Lord’s
day, in the meantime, for me; that is, he has made a beginning of
peace, by solemnly entering on his office of a reader.2358
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Aurelius not being able to discharge the functions of his office in
public, because of the persecution, in the meantime read for Cyprian;
which is said to be an augury or beginning of future peace. | Do you
frequently be urgent in supplications, and assist my prayers by yours,
that the Lord’s mercy favouring us may soon restore both the
priest2359
safe to his
people, and the martyr for a reader with the priest. I bid you,
beloved brethren in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, ever heartily
farewell.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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